Vulnerable
by xXNaruMayoiXx
Summary: Imagine a demon that feeds off insecurities and vulnerabilities, until the person they possess turns into nothing more than a shell of what they used to be. Can Dawn be the answer to the demon possessing Paul?  discontinued
1. Chance

NaruMayoi here with a little Ikarishipping tidbit! Vulnerable's a story I've been working on FOREVER, almost a year ago. It underwent extreme rewriting, and now, here it is! I'm sorry that my Ikari fics have been becoming neglected, and I decided to post up a chapter for Vulnerable in light of Ikarishipping Day yesterday. I wanted to post it yesterday, but I couldn't finish it what with school and whatnot. But, I figured one day off wasn't too bad, so, hope you enjoy!

disclaimer; I don't own Pokemon or any of the characters, except for any OCs that may appear.

* * *

><p>Vulnerable<p>

AU Fanfiction

x.x.

One: chance

-noun

a risk or hazard: Take a chance.

Dawn didn't know why she was so attracted to Paul.

He was cold, aloof, and downright rude to her. Sure, she got angry at him whenever he mocked her or her friends, but had it been anyone else, they would've gotten a lot more than just a telling off. She let her get away with it because he was Paul, and for no other reason.

The blunette had always thought that the girls she read about in chick lits were ridiculous bimbos for falling in love with the bad boy, but now she was becoming one of them too. It was downright stupid. She had sworn to never fall for a bad boy solely for the purpose of trying to "break" their icy exterior, but she cursed Paul for changing everything. For turning her world upside down.

x.x.

_flashback;_

_"I heard there's a new guy coming to our school today." Leaf said nonchalantly, looking at Gary. The brown haired teenager smirked, his dark eyes glittering._

_"You trying to make me jealous, Green?" he grinned slyly, and the brunette puffed out her cheek indignantly._

_"What are you talking about, Oak? I'm only pointing out a fact." she grumbled, stuffing her hands into the pockets of the varsity jacket she wore._

_"Yeah, I heard that too." May frowned. Her fingers were interlocked with Drew's, the two having been dating for around four months now. "Brianna's eyes were practically hearts, she was gushing so much about how gorgeous he was."_

_"Maybe he'll be the one for our beautiful Dawn, eh?" Misty grinned mischievously, and Dawn felt her cheeks flush._

_"Shut up, Misty!" she snapped, scowling. "I'll meet someone when I meet them, not when you try to set me up on some stupid blind date."_

_"We would never do anything like that, Dawn." Ash responded lightly, winking at Misty._

_"That wink totally makes me feel better, Ash." Dawn said sarcastically._

_"Aw, come on, Dawn, you know we're just teasing." Leaf said soothingly, and Dawn's anger waned._

_"Hmpf." Dawn stuck out her lower lip stubbornly, but there was a smile on her face. She flipped her straightened hair out poshly. She grinned. "Yes, yes. I believe you guys-" she waved a hand towards Misty, Leaf, and May. "-but not them." Dawn pointed a finger towards the guys accusingly._

_"We love you too, Dawn." Drew said sarcastically, pulling May closer towards him. Despite the fact they had dated for such a long time, Dawn smiled at the blush on May's face as she felt Drew's arm around her waist._

_"Stupid lovebirds." she grumbled jokingly. "Get a room, guys." she grinned._

_"Shut up, Berlitz." May snapped, and Dawn noticed with amusement that her voice was slightly shaky._

_"I thought you'd be used to such close contact with your boyfriend by now, May." Dawn teased. She raised her eyebrows suggestively. "Or do you do other things?"_

_"Dawn!" May gasped, smacking her friend as the blunette laughed. Drew was suppressing a grin, and Gary and Ash were smirking openly._

_"Haha, sorry, I just had to say that. Or is that denial I sense in your voice?" Dawn grinned, and Ash's eyes were fixed on the floor to cover the silent laughter that was on his face._

_"Dawn! Get your mind out of the gutter!" May shrieked, pushing her friend, before gasping suddenly._

_"Ngh, May, I never knew you were that strong." Dawn grumbled, frowning at her friends' looks of shock._

_"Get off me, you troublesome girl." Dawn's eyes widened at the voice behind her, and realization dawned on her that she had fallen onto someone. She stood up abruplty, turning to apologise profusely, when all the words in her mouth suddenly disappeared._

_If anyone could look hot while having been fallen on, this guy could. He had deep purple bangs that framed a masculine, tanned face. He had deep, intriguing dark eyes and a scowl plasted on his face. He stood up, and Dawn's face heated up as she realized his clothing showed the slightest hint of an eight pack._

_"Oh... um, er, I'm sorry about that." Dawn stammered, and the purple haired teenager turned to stare at the blunette, who felt increasingly self conscious of her appearance._

_"Hnm." he grunted, looking critically at the flushed teenager in front of him. He put his hands into his pockets, challenging Dawn to say something._

_"Er... I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new?" Dawn said chirpily, before faltering at his steely gaze._

_"Is that any of your business?" he responded icily, and Dawn raised her eyebrows._

_"W..well, I suppose it isn't, but I was only trying to be nice." Dawn said slowly, a shiver going down her back at his icy gaze._

_"I don't need your kindness." he said coldly, and Dawn felt his eyes on her. He scowled. "I know your type. The snobby, in your face, rich girl. I don't have to be nice to you just cause you're 'popular', got that?"_

_Dawn was left speechless, and that was his cue to leave._

_"Wow. He's certainly a... character." Misty said, breaking the silence._

_"What. A. FUCKING. JERK!" Dawn spluttered, seething. Her azure eyes flared up. "SNOBBY, IN YOUR FACE, RICH GIRL? WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?"_

_"You do kind of have that aura, Dawn." Drew noted. Dawn rounded on him, spinning on her heel to snap at Drew._

_"YOU CONCEITED GREEN HAIRED ASS!" she spat, rage in her once calm blue eyes._

_"Geez, girl, I was only joking."_

_end flashback;_

x.x.

Dawn smiled at the memory, as she walked in a line with Misty, May, and Leaf. They were her best friends since childhood, and she had supported them through their relationships. The memories they shared were priceless, as were the ones with Drew, Ash, and Gary. She remembered playing matchmaker with May and Drew with Misty and Leaf, and the three girls were both satisfied as they watched May accept with barely contained joy Drew's request for a date. Not long after, the two became a couple. Ash and Misty were the next It couple, with the dynamic of a dense, sweet hearted boy and a clever, tomboy girl. They were as sweet as could be, and Dawn was happy with the result. Gary had kickstarted his relationship with Leaf with subtle hints, but later advanced to asking her to the Valentines Dance, eventually sharing their first kiss outside the gym. With all of her best friends in loving relationships, the three of them turned their attention to Dawn, constantly making predictions on who'd she'd end up with. Some of their suggestions included Kenny, Conway, and Nando. She'd flatly rejected all of their attempts to pair her with them.

When she first saw Paul, she thought nothing of him. She knew the type. The cold, icy "bad boy" that every girl lusted for, the one that broke hearts. She knew the type, because she was one of them. Once upon a time, three years ago, when she was only twelve, she'd been dating a boy named Raoul. When she found out he had been cheating on her, she'd sworn off dating bad boys forever. She'd kept her promise for three years, at least until she'd met Paul.

x.x.

_flashback;_

_Tears were now streaming down her face. Her Piplup pendant was gone._

_It wasn't just another piece of jewellry, it was a present her father had given her._

_He had said, "If you ever need me, I'll be right by you. Keep this by your side, and I'll always be with you. Always."_

_One day after he said that, police found him dead._

_She'd kept the pendant by her side forever. It had a band of sterling silver, beautifully cut gemstones coming together to create an image of a Piplup. At the back were the words "No matter what happens, I'll always love you. Beck Berlitz, May 23, 1990."_

_Tears streaming down her face, she frantically rummaged through her locker, hoping for even the slightest catch of light. Hope filled her as she saw a glimmer of a gemstone, but it was short lived as she realized it was only a pair of studded flats. She slumped by her locker, her face buried in her hands. She didn't care about the stares she was getting, or that she was late to class. She only cared that the only memory of her father she had left was gone._

_She felt a tap on her shoulder. Believing it to be Misty or another one of her friends, she ignored it._

_"Dawn." she recognized that voice immediately. It was softer, and so uncharacteristic she almost believed she was hallucinating. When she lifted her head up wearily, her eyes no doubt bloodshot, she saw Paul. He looked slightly uncomfortable, his hands in the pockets of the varsity jacket he wore._

_"What?" she whispered hoarsely. She let out a gasp as Paul took out a pendant. Her pendant._

_"W..where did you find it?" she demanded, rising to her feet. Elation filled her, and she gently took it out of his cupped hand, as if not believing it to be true. But it was. There was her pendant, gemstones and all, returned by the person she least expected._

_"It was in Rich's locker." he said bluntly. He stepped away. "He was acting skittish and secretive, and I saw it in his hand. I knew it was yours, so I took it from him. That bastard was going to sell it."_

_"T...thank you." she croaked, pocketing the pendant into the pocket of her skinny jeans. What she did next surprised even her. She threw her arms around Paul's neck, and the teenager stumbled back in surprise. He hesitated, before pulling away._

_"I'm glad you're happier now, Dawn." he said slowly. He paused, as if considering adding on to his sentence, but decided against it. Dawn watched as he walked down the hallway, observing the teenager in new light._

_Maybe she was wrong. Maybe Paul wasn't so bad after all._

_end flashback;_

x.x.

Dawn remembered the confusion she felt after that day, the conflicting emotions that churned like a tornado in the pit of her stomach. It was after that day that she had to accept that she had truly and irrefutably fallen for Paul.

It wasn't just his looks, although Dawn had to admit he was nothing short of breathtaking. His face was chiselled and masculine, with his purple locks framing his face perfectly. His tight shirt showed his collar bone almost teasingly, his tanned skin unblemished. He would probably have cinched the title of school heartthrob easily.

But it was his behaviour that day that intrigued her. The knowledge that there was a kinder person behind the walls put up that made Dawn so desperately want to see the Paul behind the walls.

And Dawn was determined to break down the barrier he had spent so long making.

x.x.

Dawn was in a loose floral t-shirt, cinched at the waist with a thin leather belt that accentuated her hourglass figure. She wore an almost scandalously short frayed denim miniskirt, and black gladiators. She was dancing with all the grace of a ballerina, but the spunk and attitude of rock star. She looked at home on the dance floor, her body moving with the beat, occasionally shaking her hips when the music allowed her to.

Her feet aching, she walked over to the wall where Misty and Ash were, pouring herself a glass of punch along the way.

"Hey, Dawn. Love the music." Misty remarked came on.

"Heard there was a slow dance today. You guys going to enlighten me while I stand here forever alone?" she teased, her eyes bright. Misty flushed.

"Shut up, Berlitz." she grumbled. Misty squealed as E.T. by Katy Perry came on, and dragged a thoroughly harassed looking Ash to the dance floor. Dawn snorted. Why Misty liked a song about a person wanting to have sex with an alien, Dawn would never comprehend. She walked to the punch bowl, to see a faint, familiar figure leaning against a wall.

"Hey, Paul!" she called out. He turned to look at her, before looking at the floor again.

"What do you want, Troublesome?" he asked bluntly, and Dawn felt frustrated.

"Well, excuse me. I just thought you looked lonely." she began, then paused. "Why did you pay for tickets if you weren't going to dance?"

"Hn. I didn't buy them myself. Reggie bought them for me, kicked me out of the house, and said I needed a social life." he said coldly, and Dawn burst out laughing. Paul raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny, Troublesome?"

"Your brother seriously said that?" she laughed, tears in her eyes. Paul frowned, before smirking.

"You find that funny, Troublesome?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Very." Dawn smiled, before breathing. "Alright, I didn't come here to insult you, even though that was fun. Um, do you want to dance?"

Surprise took over the teenage boy's features.

"Why?" he asked, more of a demand than a question. "Didn't you come here with what's-his-face?"

"What?" Dawn repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, tch, Barry? No, he came with Ursula. Lucas came with some ditzy blonde girl, and Kenny came with Zoey. I think that's it..."

"Tch. I don't do dancing." he said bluntly, and Dawn pursed her lips.

"You're at a dance. It's not a 'stand around and do nothing'. It's a dance. Why come if you weren't going to dance?" Dawn asked irately, and Paul scoffed.

"It's called 'I'm humoring my brother who thinks I have no social life'." he answered, and Dawn resisted the urge to smirk.

"Well, then, if you're not going to dance, are you going to go hang out with your friends?" she asked, looking for any of his friends. Drew was saying something to May that pissed her off, causing the brunette to punch him in the arm. Ash had tripped while he was attempting to dance and was at the nurse's office with an annoyed Misty. Jimmy and Marina were slow dancing like the fairytale couple they were, and Silver and Lyra were awkwardly making conversation. "Er. Nevermind."

"Hang out with Grasshead, Redhead, Stonehead and Lovesick? I try not to." he answered, and Dawn scoffed at his names for Drew, Silver, Ash, and Jimmy.

"Well, are you going to do anything other than breathe?" she demanded, and Paul shrugged.

"If you get to annoying, I may have to consider not doing that, either." he smirked as Dawn groaned.

"Your brother's right, you do have absolutely no social life." Dawn declared, crossing her arms.

"It's better than getting wasted and fucking random strangers every Friday night." Paul answered coolly, looking in the blunette's direction.

"What are you looking at me fo- YOU ASSHOLE. WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" she screeched, and half the student population looked her way.

"Nothing, nothing." he said nonchalantly, and Dawn seethed, looking like there was nothing she'd rather do than punch his nose in.

"Ngh... dancing isn't gonna get you wasted, Paul. You gonna sit in this corner all night or dance?" she questioned, and Paul smirked.

"Tch, I've annoyed you enough." he said. "Why not?"

Dawn's heart skipped a beat, and she wondered if she heard wrong.

"Uh, what?" she repeated, blushing as Paul looked at her strangely.

"I said fine, Troublesome." he answered slowly, as if talking to a preschooler.

"Oh shut up." she mumbled, not trusting herself to look at Paul.

Well. This was slightly unexpected.

As she turned to look at Paul, a slow song came on. She felt her body heat up, and prayed desperately that Paul wouldn't notice the blush on her face. She had no time to respond as Paul held out a hand. The blunette took it hesitantly, and she felt her hand tingle slightly.

But when she placed her hands on his shoulders and she felt his hands on her waist, everything disappeared. The chatter, the people, and even the music faded away into insignificance as she and Paul danced.

Neither of them would admit it, but both of them felt currents of electricity run through them, perfectly at home with the couples on the dance floor.

Little did they know, that by something as simple as accepting a dance request, they would be thrust into an unknown world- the realm of the supernatural.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there we have it- the first chapter of fifteen. I'm sorry if Dawn and Paul's relationship seems rushed in any way, but there had to be development for future chapters and I couldn't spend forever on their developing relationship. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, leave me a review! Reviews motivate me to write more, and critical ones help to me to improve my writing. I'm sorry for the short chapter, I hurt a muscle in my arm so I couldn't type very long, but future ones will be longer, promise. And remember- all reviewers get a virtual cookie, so review!

-NaruMayoi


	2. Nightmare

hey guys!

narumayoi here!

geez, i am SO sorry for not updating in such a ridiculously long time. don't kill me. xD

anyway, i suffered from major writers block, which I have now destroyed after harry potter ended (dunno why, i feel inspired now), so, hopefully, more updates will crop up soon. shoutouts to reviewers below!

beautifullove13; here you go! :D

cecilia beth; thank you! :D er. sorry about the last part. ^.^;

starfire107; thankyousomuch! your review made my day :'D haha, i like that line too. reading too many cheesy romance novels? yes. HAHAH. and yeah, my arm's a bunch better. then my hand swelled up. o_o but i'm good now. thanks!

funkypurplefuschia; hm, it sounds really interesting. i'll definitely have to check it out sometime. and yeah, reggie's such a perceptive older brother ;P

maddiepink5; yeah, i know it was unbelievably rushed, but i really had to get the plotline going. : i'll definitely try to make a revision to it. but, for then, i was really rushed to get it up for ikarishipping day. and i failed. so. er. yeah. ^-^;

virtual cookies to all! :D

* * *

><p>Vulnerable<p>

AU Fanfiction

x.x.

nightmare;

-noun

a terrifying dream in which the dreamer experiences feelings of helplessness, extreme anxiety, sorrow, etc...

_Paul walked on an empty cobblestone road, the skies painted a beautiful azure, wispy clouds drifting by lazily. The purple haired boy stopped, looking at his surroundings. Bushes of wildflowers and grass that would make any golf course envious framed the road. He thought it was a park at first, but as he walked on, nearing half an hour, not a single person passed him. _

_ His thumbs hitched in his pockets, Paul saw something in the horizon. A dark, unfamiliar figure. The boy jogged forwards, hoping it was somebody who could help him out of this bizarre place. It beckoned him forwards, whispering in his ears. Paul grew frustrated, breaking into a sprint. The figure grew larger, until he realized that it was not a humanoid shape, but rather a box. A plain, normal cardboard box. Annoyed, he approached the it, realization hitting him as he stood before it. _

_ It was a puppet._

_ And not just an ordinary puppet. A puppet of _him_. _

_ It was carved of softwood, with drastically simplified features. But it was recognizable- those dark grey eyes and purple hair should have been major giveaways. If that was not, the attire was. With a black and blue sports jacket, baggy gray cargo pants, and worn runners, when placed side by side, the puppet looked to be an inanimate doppelganger of Paul._

_ It was the most realistic puppet Paul had ever seen, with complex joint systems and human features. He would have been impressed, but there was a spookiness to it. Almost on cue, it's arms and legs began to rise. Startled, Paul looked up to see who the puppeteer was. He sorely regretted it._

_ With a dark, shadowy face and long, bony fingers, it looked like the child of all the beasts in the fairytales and stories he feared. He stared at it, unsure of what to do. With wrinkly, reptillian skin that dripped black liquid occasionally and hollowed eye sockets, the sight of it chilled Paul to the bone. It turned to look at the teenage boy, who had gone unnoticed until then. It's fingers curled into a menacing fist, before turning back to its puppet. He moved it's legs as if it were taking a step, before stopping at the edge of the cardboard box. It teetered, but a gust of wind blew it back, so that it landed on its back. The creature looked at the puppet contemptuously, then turned to look at Paul. It's sockets gleamed red momentarily, drawing Paul in._

_ It smirked._

_ Paul was running, fearing for his life. He never ran away- he had been taught to face his fears like a man. But wild instinct told him that if he stopped, a fate worse than death would await him._

_ His legs felt as if they were being dragged down, like invisible quicksand. He stiffened into a board, hoping that he could escape before whatever demon was chasing him caught up._

_ The air chilled, and a shiver went down Paul's spine. He knew he was too late, shutting his eyes for fear of whatever stood before him. He felt a gust of wind blew at him, icier than the frigid winter gales. _

_ Memories flashed in Paul's mind like a poorly spliced movie, stuttering and freezing at supposedly random times. _

_ There was one of him, as a small child. His hair ragged and unkempt, the five year old Paul beamed at his mother, holding up a drawing. His mother smiled, and Paul felt a pang of rage and sorrow. With lavender ringlets falling down her shoulders and bright blue eyes, she was beautiful. She held up her son's drawing of his family, done in wax crayons and with an unsteady hand. Her lips curved into a smile, as she embraced her son. Paul had remembered the elation he felt at his mother's approval, and a goofy grin lit up his chubby face._

_ It faded away like a burning photograph, revealing himself and Reggie. His older brother was showing off the Pokemon he had received from Professor Rowan's laboratory, a lively Chimchar that had evolved into a Monferno. He had also caught a few other Pokemon, and had released them to show Paul. __Being the curious six year old he was, the purple haired child attempted to pet Monferno. The fire monkey screeched, frightened by the child, and blasted out a flame. It singed Paul's skin, burning it, and he started to cry. He had remembered how painful it was, even as his worried mother ran it under some cool water. Only after he laid in bed with his burn smeared with ointment did he realize his father hadn't bothered to check on him. It hurt him to know that his father didn't care about his son being injured._

_ It split in half, to show Verity Shinji once more. She was sickly now, her skin chalk white. Her eyes were hollowed and her eyeballs seemed to bulge out. Her smile wasn't as radiant as it once was, and Paul could tell how forced and exhausted her smile seemed to be. She had lost weight and her hair started to fall out. Paul remembered how he had visited her in the hospital, only to cry after seeing his mother's hair lying on her pillow in clumps. He remembered how sick she was, and how it seemed like each day was a struggle to her. The wires and beeping machines around her seemed to be proof that each breath she took was a miracle. Paul knew, even as a naïve eight year old, that his mother's time on Earth was soon to be up. He had just never known how quickly he would have to say goodbye to her._

_ It dissolved quickly like acid had been poured on the memory, leaving another image. Paul frowned- he didn't remember this one. Was this some figment of his imagination? _

_ His father- his real one, lay hunched over his mother's hospital bed. His bleached white hair fell over his tanned face, and he seemed dark in a way that had nothing to do with his appearance. His thin, pale lips curled into a demonic smirk, and he lifted the fingers interlocked with his wife's. Bending over, he whispered something._

_ "You always did trust people too much." each word was laced with menace. Paul felt himself tense up, horror coursing through him as he realized what his father was doing. Leaning over, he kissed her, lips lingering on her mouth, before he pulled away. Verity twitched spastically, as if the kiss was a deadly poison. The man's gaze lingered on his wife once more, before he pulled the plug anchoring her to the realm of the living. Warbles and alarms from the life support systems pierced the air, breaking the peaceful silence. Paul's father cursed, sending out his Blastoise. _

_ "Hydro Pump." he commanded softly, and the armoured turtle looked at him in disbelief. The white haired man's handsome face twisted into one of anger. "Didn't you hear me? I said Hydro Pump."_

_ The turtle gave Verity a longing look, filled with regret, before shooting out a cannon of pressurized water. The alarms stopped abruptly, a mechanical "System Failure, Shutting Down" rang in the air. A smile played on the man's lips. He waited as the batteries to the life support system died, waterlogged beyond use, and sent out his Salamence. Hopping on the dragon's back, he flew away into the night, not bothering to give his now deceased wife a second glance._

_ It flashed to Verity Shinji's tombstone._

_ In Loving Memory of Verity Shinji_

_ Beloved Wife, Mother, Friend_

_ 1983-2011_

_ There was a sudden crash as limestone came crashing down, destroyed into rubble. _

_ "Salamence, return." he returned his dragon Pokemon, black eyes surveying his work. He smiled, dropping a calling card where the tombstone once was, before closing his eyes and transporting away._

_ It was a black Arbok with piercing red eyes, its body twisted into a D. Paul closed his eyes, feeling more conflicted than he ever had in his life. He finally knew who his real father was._

_ Underground crime lord Daemon Shinji._

x.x.

"What the fuck was that?" the teenager sat up, running his hands over his arms, a clammy sheet of sweat on his tanned skin. His dark grey eyes were deeply troubled, the realization stabbing him like a thousand knives. The doctors had said her mother died because of a waterlogged life support system, but Paul had never imagined that her death could have been intentional. Rage coursed through him again, and he punched the wall, breaking the taupe coloured drywall. In addition to his emotions, he had a throbbing fist. Great.

Paul stared out the window, trying to calm himself down. He shivered from the coldness of the midnight gales, but it seemed like nothing to what he was feeling inside.

Hadn't he always wanted to know who his real father was? All his childhood memories had been blanked out, and all his adoptive father had to say was that he was a sketchy man with many untold secrets. He leaned against the wall, slumping into a sitting position. After all this time, he finally knew the truth. Verity Shinji's death wasn't because of her illness- it practically qualified as murder. Paul clenched his fists, and he looked more emotional than he ever had before. He locked the door, knowing how awkward it would have been had Reggie opened the door that moment.

It was only a dream, he told himself. There wasn't a guarantee it was what really happened.

_But you know it's true. Everything fits together perfectly... you can't deny it forever. _

He lay on his bed, his sheets thrown off him. Just as he was about to drift into sleep, a sudden coldness struck him. It was icier than the blustering winds in Snowpoint City, almost surreal. Paul gasped, sitting up. He glared at the window, but found it locked tightly. Glancing at the thermostat, he saw it was up to a warm 25C. He frowned, shaking it off.

_Must just have been my imagination, _he reasoned.

Oh, it wasn't just your imagination, Paul.

_Hehe. _

x.x.

"Paul, you look horrible!" Dawn exclaimed, running up to him.

"Nice to hear, Troublesome." he answered brusquely, and Dawn flushed.

"I didn't mean it like that." she answered, but Paul shook her off. He knew he looked crappy, he didn't need anyone to tell him that. His hair was messed up, and there were dark circles under his eyes. Although the teenager wouldn't admit it, he was somewhat touched by Troublesome's apparent concern. But only somewhat.

He turned to see his friend, Gary, approach him.

"Dude, you look like shit." the auburn haired teen said, raising an eyebrow. Dawn shot him a reproachful look that Gary ignored. "What happened?"

"Rough night." he answered darkly, and his tone instantly made the two back off. Gary and Dawn exchanged a look of concern for their friend, but knew not to get on his nerves. Paul felt annoyance bubble up in him as more of his friends gathered around, and he gave short, one word responses whenever anyone attempted to make conversation.

He more than welcomed the bell, knowing that he'd finally be left alone. As he made his way to his classroom, he felt a hand on his arm.

"What happened?" Dawn asked, and Paul looked away, not wanting to look at her.

"I'm going to be late for class, and so are you." he said shortly, walking away. Dawn grabbed his arm again, turning him around.

"I can be late once." she answered, her voice soft. "What's going on?"

"Nothing. If there was, it isn't any of your business, either." Paul said coldly, but Dawn stepped in front of him.

"I know there's something wrong. You'll feel better after you tell someone about it." she said stubbornly, and Paul knew there wasn't any way he could win this argument. He sighed, leaning against his locker. Dawn watched him worriedly, and he knew the reason why. This was probably the first time she'd ever seen him so emotional.

"... my mother was killed when I was eight and my brother was twelve. The doctors said it was because the life support system was waterlogged and the battery failed. I had always thought that it was an accident." he spoke quietly, staring at the ground. "I had always thought that it was an accident. But I had a nightmare, or a dream, I suppose. I realized it wasn't an accident. My father had pulled the life support system, and because he didn't have the authorization key to shut down the system, it operated on battery power. He used a Hydro Cannon to waterlog the system so it would fail.

"I had always wanted to know who my biological father was, and why he left my and brother and I by ourselves after my mother died. Brandon was an acceptable father figure, but I always wanted to know who my real father was. That dream showed me." he took a breath. "When I was small, there was an underground crime ring that dealt with trading rare Pokemon on the illegal black market for PokeYen. It was destroyed by the police force and the Pokemon Welfare Association a while back, but most of the members survived. They joined people like Pokemon Hunter J instead of reform the crime ring. My father was the leader of it all. Damon Shinji."

The two teenagers stood there in silence momentarily.

"Oh my god. That's... horrible." Dawn mumbled out, still shocked speechless. The blunette had lost her father, but not like that.

Paul only grunted, nausea causing him to feel lightheated. Shit, and in front of Troublesome, too? She'd have a good laugh.

He slumped against his locker, iciness gripping him. He felt sick- but that seemed underwhelmed. It was like he had no control of his body when the coldness seeped in, and he bit his lip. Dawn rushed over, but Paul pushed her hand away. Whatever this was, he wasn't dragging her into it. He felt a pang of guilt at the hurt expression on Dawn's face, but it was for the best. Paul tried to fight the coldness trying to control him, but it proved futile. It was only seconds before he succumbed to the darkness.

"Paul, are you okay?"

He blinked, recognizing that voice. It was still sweet and serene, but not nearly as bubbly and cheerful. He would have called it annoying, but right now, Paul didn't really care. He was just grateful that she was there- not that he would admit it, of course.

"What happened?" he demanded gruffly, and Dawn raised an eyebrow.

"You just fell unconscious for no reason in the hallway and you still act like that? I'm amazed, Paul." she said tartly. Paul grimaced- he had gone unconscious? Well, great. He sat up, the teenager observing his surroundings. He was in the nurse's office, no doubt, but how did he get there?

"How did I get here?" he asked, his voice gentler this time. Dawn stood up, her face looking like she was deep in thought. The blunette frowned, biting her lower lip.

"I don't know. You walked here." Dawn said slowly. At Paul's skeptical expression, she started waving her hands in front of her. "Don't laugh, alright?"

"How could I have walked here? Weren't you the one that said I had gone unconscious, Troublesome?" he said, an edge of impatience in his voice. Dawn's eye twitched dangerously.

"I know that." she said calmly, but to the purple haired teenager, it was obvious she was trying not to blow up at him. "You slumped down at your locker, and I don't know, your breathing kind of went shallow. I tried to help, but you pushed me away. Then, as if it never happened, you just stood up and walked to the nurse's office. When you got here, you went unconscious again. Don't laugh at me, but when you were walking here, I could have sworn your eyes flashed red."

"... are you kidding me?" he asked in disbelief. "That's not right."

"I know what I saw, Paul." she said slowly. She stood up, crossing her arms in front of her. "Anyway, school's about to end soon. It'd make for an awkward situation if any of your friends saw me here."

_Wait. End of school?_

He'd been out for the entire school day?

"Yeah, you were." Dawn answered, as if reading his mind. "The nurse called Reggie to pick you up, but your brother was busy. He said he'd pick you up after school. I had to go to class after that, so I don't know what happened after."

Paul was silent, and Dawn's piercing gaze softened. She stopped at the door frame, looking back.

"Feel better, Paul." she said, and then she was gone.

The trainer sat at the foot of the bed momentarily, before standing up. Ignoring the wave of nausea hitting him, he walked out.

Paul walked quickly, ignoring everyone that tried to talk to him. He just didn't want to talk to anyone yet. His phone rang, and the he pulled out his Samsung Galaxy S Epic. The caller ID told Paul it was his brother.

"What?" Paul answered gruffly.

"I'm coming over to pick you up." his brother said, and he heard Reggie fiddle with something on the other line. "Listen, Paul, I'm really sorry I couldn't pick you up earlier, I had to pick up Brandon from the ferry. He's having dinner with us tonight."

_Brandon._

He had kept too many secrets from Paul. What else was the Frontier Brain hiding from his adoptive sons?  
>"Don't bother. I'm coming home now." he said coldly, his demeanor changing at the mention of his adoptive father. Without giving Reggie time to respond, he ended the call. As the dialer disappeared from the screen, Paul's interest piqued as he saw a draft he had never sent. Opening it, he frowned. The teenager didn't remember ever typing a draft, and after reading it, he felt that familiar coldness again.<p>

_Recipient: Paul Shinji (576-854-0139)_

_ Message: (Draft) _

_ You can't run away from reality, Paul. You of all people should know that._

* * *

><p>ohmy, a PLL-esque creepy text message!<p>

what did the dreams mean? how did that message get in paul's phone? why is he so sensitive about his parents?

leave your opinions in your reviews!

speaking of reviews, i'd be absurdly happy if we could reach ten reviews with this chapter. reviews generally make me a lot more inspired and motivated, and four reviews made me feel dejected. so, reviews?

-holds out box of cupcakes-

want one? press that little button that says review!

-narumayoi


	3. Revelation

Heyguise! :D NaruMayoi here with the newest chapter of Vulnerable!

Ahem, so, I'm not too sure if the facts in here are accurate, so bear with me? (: xD

Anyway, i don't own Pokemon, because it'd be a disaster if I did. Too much fluff. xD Ahem, anyway, Vulnerable!

* * *

><p>Vulnerable<p>

AU Fanfiction

-x-

revelation

-noun

something revealed or disclosed, especially a striking disclosure,as of something not before realized.

-x-

"Hey, guys. We're going to be doing a brief project about Veilstone. Your topic can be anything from the history, local attractions, monuments, anything you think is significant to Veilstone." their socials teacher, Volkner, explained. The class groaned, and Volkner rolled his eyes. "Using a three fold display board, you'll do a display about your topic. Well used models will earn you extra credit points."

The bell rang, and the students placed their books in their bags as they got ready to leave for lunch.

"Topic and notes must be done by the 18th!" Volkner shouted, and the students muttered an "okay" before leaving.

"This has to be the fifth project we've done this term." May complained, annoyance in her features. Her socials textbook was nestled in the crook of her arm.

"Eighth." Misty grumbled, shoving her book in her messenger bag. "Volkner's given us three picture essays, one scrapbook essay, three display projects, and one 3D visual project."

"Overworking us. Isn't this child labor?" May moaned, flopping down dramatically at the lunch table. Misty laughed.

"Hey, guys!" Ash chirped, taking the seat next to Misty. Drew smirked, snaking an arm around May's waist, causing the brunette to flush. Paul said nothing, sitting across from Dawn, his face stoic as ever.

"What was that I heard about child labor?" Drew questioned, and May rolled her eyes.

"Just Volkner being the usual homework loving ass he is. I swear, he thinks his job is incomplete if he doesn't give us a mountain of homework." May mumbled, poking her lunch with a plastic fork. Drew smirked, flipping his bangs from his green eyes.

"I seriously don't get this." Ash declared, dropping a calculus textbook onto the lunch table. His dark brown eyes gave away his annoyance and frustration. "Mrs. Fevra threatened to fail me in calculus if I didn't get at least a B+ on my final exam."

Misty sighed, picked up a red fat tip sharpie, and circled all his mistakes, making an array of arrows and squiggly lines.

"Correct these." she said, slapping the paper down in front of Ash. The teenage boy's eyes widened, and he slumped in his seat.

"My head hurts." he complained, and Misty thumped him over the head, albeit lightly.

"You're an idiot." the orange haired girl grumbled, and Drew scoffed.

"When is he not?" Drew smirked, and Ash looked offended.

"Behave yourself." May chided, and the chartreuse haired teenager rolled his eyes.

"Yes ma'am." he said sarcastically, but a smile played on his lips.

Dawn didn't pay attention to their conversations, only catching the occasional phrase or two. Her blue eyes were locked on Paul, who was hunched over his lunch. His grey eyes were clouded over, as if he wasn't thinking clearly. The blunette frowned, trying to understand his strange behavior.

"Hey, Dawn. I'd recommend you stop checking out Paul." May whispered, a sly smirk on her lips. "You've been staring at him for the past five minutes."

"I am not." she retorted, but May laughed.

"Denial." the brunette grinned, and Dawn smacked her lightly, before looking back at Paul.

His hand was hovering over his fork, as if he was about to pick it up. It stayed there, before confusion passed over his face and he jerked his arm back suddenly. His arm elbowed Ash in the shoulder roughly, causing the raven haired boy to drop his fork on his tray.

"Hey! That hurt!" Ash whined, and Paul raised an eyebrow, confusion etched in his handsome face.

"Hn? Sorry." he muttered, and went back to picking at his lunch with the fork. His strange behavior didn't go unnoticed by his friends.

"What's up with Paul?" Jimmy asked, jabbing a thumb at the lavender haired teen's direction.

"Nothing's wrong with me." he responded tersely, but there was a hesitancy in his tone.

"Alright then, chill, man. All that stress isn't good for you." Drew said, and Paul glared at him.

"What are you, my yoga instructor?" he asked coldly.

"Now _that's _the Paul I know."

-x-

"Are you alright?" Dawn asked, approaching Paul. The lavender haired teenager frowned, glancing at the blunette.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he answered coldly, leaning against the brick wall of their school.

"I don't know. Does your arm hurt or something?" Dawn asked sympathetically, and something that resembled terror passed over his face briefly.

"No. Why would it hurt?" Paul responded tersely, but a hand subconsciously went towards his right arm.

"I don't know, I saw you at lunch. I thought maybe you pulled a muscle or something when you went unconscious." the blunette answered, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't need your concern, Troublesome. I told you, I'm fine." Paul said, but there was a hesitancy in his voice that didn't go unnoticed. Doubt flickered in those deep, grey eyes of his. Ash called him over, waving a hand urgently. Paul rolled his eyes, but went over to the raven haired boy nonetheless. He bumped his book bag against something, causing a book to fall out.

"Hey, Paul...!" she called out, but the lavender haired boy had already left hearing range. She frowned, picking up the glossy hardcover book. On the cover was the legendary trio of Sinnoh- Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina- on a cliff, roaring. Above them, faded into the setting, was a headshot of the fabled Arceus. On the top in neat, gold font, was the title: _"The Masters of Sinnoh,"._ The blunette leafed through the pages casually, wondering why Paul would be in the possession of a book like that. She remembered that he was also in her socials class, just at a different time.

Paul had finished speaking to Ash, and looked at Dawn strangely, as if observing her through critical eyes.

They flashed blood red for a moment.

Paul shook his head, rubbing his temples roughly as if he had a migraine.

"Paul!" Dawn called, and he turned around to look at her. He had on a cringe-worthy scowl, his arms crossed.

"What, Troublesome?" it seemed harsher and more raw than before, a gravelly undertone in it like he hadn't spoken for days when he had. Paul noticed it too, clearing his throat before frowning. Dawn held out the book.

"Here, you dropped this." she said sweetly, and Paul grabbed it from her hand, opening it randomly.

He went pale.

Rage and something that resembled fear flickered through his black eyes, and he snarled, ripping out a sticky note that must have been stuck on to the page.

"I have to go." he said bluntly, the anger still evident in his voice. He threw it roughly into his bag, leaving before Dawn could get a word in.

"Why does he always act like he's got a stick up his ass?" she grumbled, picking up the balled up sticky note to throw it in the trash. Curiosity getting better of her, she unfolded it and smoothed it out.

It was like the temperature had dropped ten degrees as she read the gold cursive, shivering as chills went down her spine, something that wasn't caused by what seemed to be a temperature drop.

_Don't you want to know what Daddy was so interested in?_

It was in his handwriting, but something inside Dawn made her realize that he couldn't have written it. Why else would he have been so disturbed by those words?

She shook her head. She was thinking too much of it.

It lay in the garbage can, scrunched up and inconspicuous, like it was an ordinary note.

Pft. Ordinary note.

As if.

-x-

"Pokemon Labour Industry in the 1800's?" Misty asked, holding up a blue hardcover book with a velvety gold spine.

"No. Too dark." May shuddered, and dug through the pile of library books. "Fashion through the 80s?"

"Not relevant to Veilstone." Dawn piped up, and May nodded, throwing it away. The blunette scrolled down the web page again, and grinned. "Veilstone Water Troupe?"

"TAKEN." Misty shouted, pushing Dawn out of the way to look at the information on the Water Troupe.

"Ow. Misty, you gave me a bruise." Dawn grumbled, rubbing her arm.

"Eheh... sorry." Misty chuckled sheepishly, and Dawn rolled her eyes. She picked up her Pokebook Air and looked through the Veilstone Library archives. May was busy reading a book about the Veilstone Meteorites. The blunette raised an eyebrow in interest, when she heard the sound of a text from May's phone. The brunette frowned, picking up her HTC Sensation, before flushing red.

"What? Did Drew send you something?" Misty asked slyly, causing the brunette to blush even more.

"N...no!" she stammered, screaming as Dawn swiped her phone from her hands.

From- Boyfriend3

Subject- hey babe. missing you in my bed tonight ;)

Misty wolf-whistled.

"Man, girl, what'd you get up to at night?" Misty asked cheekily, a sly smirk on her face.

"NO! IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" May screeched, sitting up. Her cheeks were beyond red now- they were a scarlet Dawn didn't know was humanly possible.

"Got frisky, eh?" Dawn teased, and May flushed even brighter. If that was possible.

"NO! FUCK NO!" she screamed, then suddenly stopped. "Damn, should have used another word."

Misty and Dawn burst out laughing, and May moaned.

"Alright, so if you didn't have some 'fun', what's the text about?" Dawn reasoned, and May looked away pointedly.

"Er. We kinda. Slept. In the same bed. And now he won't stop teasing me about it." she mumbled, and Misty started laughing, applauding her between peals of laughter.

"How did _that_ happen?" Dawn asked curiously, and May ducked her head.

"Coordinating field trip. There was a mistake and we were rooming together, and we had a double bed, instead of two singles. Draw your own conclusions." she said stiffly, and Dawn smirked.

"It ends with you two staring at each other with lust and passion in your eyes, before having mad, hot-" she was cut off as May screamed suddenly, covering her ears with her hands.

"I hate you guys." she mumbled, putting her books in her bag. "I got to go."

"That's right, May, go to Drew." Dawn grinned, and the brunette shot her a look that would have made Paul proud.

"Shut up..." she mumbled again, slamming the door on the way out.

Misty whistled.

"Wow. Talk about awkward." she grinned, and high-fived Dawn.

"But what about you and Ash?" Dawn mused, and the carrot top dropped her arm comically.

"W...what about us?" she demanded, flustered. Dawn poked her friend in the cheek.

"Is someone hiding something? Oh my, I think I'm becoming a loner..." she grinned cheekily, and Misty rolled her eyes, a small blush tinging her cheeks.

"You pervert." she mumbled, and Dawn grinned.

"Ah, but you still love me." she cooed, and Misty rolled her eyes, smiling at her friend.

"That doesn't change the fact you're still a pervert." the carrot top answered, grinning. Dawn rolled her eyes.

Dawn and Misty looked at each other, before bursting out laughing.

"You might join the bandwagon soon enough. What with the way you keep looking at Paul." Misty pointed out, and Dawn pouted.

"Not you too!" Dawn exclaimed, and Misty smirked.

"Come on, Dawn, the truth will set you free." Misty said, grinning.

"Not if you're a criminal. Besides, when did you get so philosophical?" Dawn demanded, but she was laughing all the while.

"Psh." Misty scoffed, a text tone coming from her pocket. Pulling out her Sidekick, she groaned. "Daisy needs me. She needs me to turn on the oven."

"...oven?" Dawn repeated, and Misty rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. Don't ask." Misty said, and Dawn grinned.

"Tch, alright. Go do your thingy-mabob with the Veilstone Water Troupe. I'll be here, eating my Swedish berries... by myself..."

"Get Paul here." the carrot top suggested, before dodging a copy of Catcher in the Rye. She laughed. "Bye!"

Dawn laughed, walking downstairs to lock the doors after Misty left. Trudging back up the stairs to her room, she kicked open the door and flopped on the bed lazily, flicking open a book to a random page.

_The Demon's Shrine_

Dawn's interest was piqued immediately, thinking of the brass shrine a few minutes' walk from her house. Was that the Demon's Shrine? She looked at the cover briefly- "Veilstone and the Supernatural."

The blunette frowned, reading an excerpt from a fictional story by an author named Valentine Sernix.

~.~

_His eyes rolled back, revealing blood red irises that gleamed menacingly, thirsting for their next victim. _

_ "Luke!" the girl screamed, but Luke was no more. He was only a shell of his former being, a puppet controlled by a demon who sought to destroy the humanity within their victim until they were essentially dead._

_ "I am not Luke... the Luke you know is gone... dead..." the voice that came from Luke's body was not his own. It was gravelly and inhuman, the mere sound sending chills down Erin's spine. This wasn't Luke... it couldn't be._

_ "You are right, child..." the voice answered again, letting out a short, mirthless bark of a laugh._

_ "What the hell are you?" Erin demanded, her voice wavering. The body of Luke shrugged, and the girl couldn't take her eyes off his. They used to be blue... so deep and soft you could lose yourself in their depths. Now they were bloody red, like some monster that seeked only blood. _

_ "I am your deepest fears and your deepest insecurities, the ones you stay up all night fretting about." it answered, and a smirk played on Luke's lips. "It was particularly strong in him... that is why I chose him..."_

_ "W..what do you mean? Luke's the strongest person I know." Erin snapped fiercely. _

_ "Even the strongest person has their insecurities. Sometimes, it's them with the biggest fears." it laughed. "Luke was a particularly easy person to penetrate. All his silly little fears over Erin this, Erin that. Does Erin love me, does she not see how I feel about her? His stupid teenage mind's idea of love."_

_ Erin was rendered speechless, only letting out aother scream when Luke collapsed. His eyes faded back to their normal baby blue, his tan skin paler than she'd ever seen it._

_ "Luke! Are you alright?" she demanded, but the blond teenager looked at her briefly, before shivering._

_ "Go. Now." Luke whispered, eyes wide with fright. "I..it's right behind you! Go!"_

_ Erin thought he was delirious, driven mad by whatever he had experienced. That's what she assumed, anyway._

_ Before a sudden iciness took over her, freezing every fibre of her being. She sucked in her breath, her legs giving way under her._

_ "I'm sorry..." Luke mumbled. _

_ "Haha..." the voice came from her mouth, but she was not speaking. "Excellent. My next victim."_

-The Demon's Child, Valentine Sernix

Based on Historical Lore

Dawn didn't speak- her mind was too busy putting the pieces together.

_No. No way. It's... it's only a legend._

That's what she told herself, anyway. But how could it not be true? Everything fit together perfectly.

Her eyes traveled down the bottom of the page.

_The Demon's Child by Valentine Sernix is a fictional novel based on tales from Sernix's hometown in Veilstone, Sinnoh. Local legend has it that when the meteorites in Veilstone hit the city, it brought another being with it. There have been many stories of citizens acting strangely, and suddenly experiencing memory loss, forgetting everything they did for a certain period of time, be it an hour or a week. Victims never fully recovered from their experiences, each of them uttering the same words- "It was the demon..." One victim, Eric Vandel, once told the newspapers that the demon had manipulated his fears against himself, driving him insane. Vandel passed away only an hour after. News of Veilstone's "Demon" travelled throughout Sinnoh, and local authorities feverishly attempted to drive the being from their city once and for all. On May 13, a famous exorcist, Otis Vanderwal, was invited to Veilstone in order to attempt to rid the city of whatever entity was gripping it. After a successful exorcism, the city erected a shrine to commemorate the end of one of the city's darkest moments. There have been no further incidents with the demon._

Dawn's eyes widened.

"No. No way." she whispered.

A piece of paper drifted in the window, landing on Dawn's desk. It was Paul's usual neat scrawl.

_Yes way._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Yeesh, this is like some Pokemon version of PLL xD

So, Dawn realizes what's going on with Paul. What will she do?

Yeah, extremely short chapter with some random Pokeshipping and Contest in there. I had a blast writing a part. You can probably guess which one xD Also, there's a link in this chapter somewhere that's connected to Paul's family somehow. A giant box of cupcakes to anyone who guesses it right :]

BTW, I was kind of disappointed with the number of reviews on Vulnerable lately... so, please, review? :] Five reviews and you get the next chapter up in a week. Promise. :D

-waves box of fresh cupcakes- You know you want some. :D


	4. Control

Done!

I like this chapter. (:

I don't know, I'm not sure if any of them are OOC, if they are, please tell me!

disclaimer; I don't own Pokemon.

That's bad for me and good for all the little kiddies out there watching it 'cause it'd _definitely _wouldn't be a kid's show.

It may or may not have an NSFW warning.

Okay, that's enough of my rambling. You get the point. I DON'T OWN POKEMON.

* * *

><p>Vulnerable<p>

AU Fanfiction

-x-

control;

verb (used with object)

to exercise restraint or direction over; dominate; command

-x-

Paul didn't bother paying attention to Flint's lecture. His mind was drawing a total blank. Even though it was fourth period, he couldn't recall what his earlier assignments were. If he hadn't known better, he might have thought he hadn't gone to his classes at all.

Flint was going on and on about how the different types reacted when faced with their weakness or strength. Paul didn't bother listening, but even if he had, he doubted he would have taken in the information. His mind just didn't seem to be cooperating with him. His joints seemed tired and stiff, although he didn't exactly think he'd strained himself in any of his classes.

"For this project, you'll be paired up into partners." Flint began, and there was an instant shuffling as students looked eagerly towards their friends in a silent agreement. "_That I have assigned."_

Flint's students groaned, glaring at the red haired teacher, who only smirked in response. Paul didn't say anything, not caring who he was partnered up with as long as he wasn't stuck with an idiot with a head full of air.

"Drew and Brianna, May and Brendan-" Drew looked nervously at the redhaired girl, who postively beamed. The green-haired teenager sent a glare in Brenden's direction, and Paul scoffed at his friend's lack of faith. "... and Dawn and Paul."

He was with Troublesome? The purple haired teen groaned inwardly, but, he reasoned, it could have been worse.

"You'll be working together to create a scrapbook like project. Construction paper is fine, but remember, there are points given for appeal, although information is the priority. Pictures, graphs, and paragraphs have to be an appropriate length and contain enough information in order to educate the reader. It's a small projec, but certainly no easy feat. You'll need to be able to work well with your partner in order to complete the project and get a decent grade on it." Flint said, and the class groaned again. The redhead frowned. "I believe that it'd also be wise to work at somebody's house instead of only during classtime."

Some students groaned, eyeing their less than satisfactory partner with a hint of distaste. Drew was glowering at Brendan, who seemed more than pleased at being able to spend time with May.

Paul scowled. The idea of working with Troublesome didn't exactly excite him.

"Notes are due next Friday. You can have some free time to talk to your partners about how to approach the project."

"Hey, Paul." Dawn said hesitantly. The teenager acknowledged her presence with a curt nod. When it became obvious the lavender haired teen wasn't going to speak, Dawn rolled her eyes. "Anyway, when should we plan to work on the notes?"

"Hn. Anytime at my house is fine." Paul grunted, and Dawn raised an eyebrow.

"Er, I have a girl's night out with my friends today, so would tomorrow work?" Dawn questioned, and Paul nodded. Dawn looked at him, a worried expression on his face.

Her worry both touched and irritated Paul. He was slightly touched- although he'd never admit it even under the face of death- that the blunette had bothered to care when he'd been acting strangely, something that seemed to be happening a lot more frequently lately. After all, he hadn't exactly treated her nicely.

But something in her gaze seemed to tell him that she knew more than he did. And after years of being taught to be in control of every situation he was in, the idea that Dawn knew more about him than he did himself disturbed and frustrated him.

His thinking had led him to zone out for a couple of moments, and when he got back to reality, he found Dawn glaring at him, although there was a trace of worry in those deep azure eyes of hers.

Paul looked away- he knew what would happen if he looked at her eyes too long.

"Get back down to Earth, Paul." he heard her snap, and he glared at her briefly before rolling his eyes.

"What, Troublesome?" he grumbled, and Dawn looked highly miffed.

"I was just talking about when we should work on the project and you haven't been listening?" Dawn growled, looking murderous. Paul shrugged.

"Guess so." he confirmed, smirking as Dawn's eye twitched.

"Paul Shinji, I swear, I will mur-" she seethed, before being cut off as Drew approached Paul, shaking his friend by the shoulders.

"Paul, you gotta help me. Brianna's a fucking crazed maniac." he whispered, hysteria in his voice. The teenager resisted the urge to smirk, and Dawn was openly grinning at Drew's state.

"Pepper spray." Paul answered bluntly, and shrugged as Dawn gave him a horrified look. "What? It works."

"Auugh, I see Brendan flirting with May again." Drew growled, and he glared at him. May looked uncomfortable as Brenden smirked slyly. "BRENDAN BIRCH, FU-"

"Whipped." Paul smirked, and Drew glared at him.

"You're one to talk." the green haired coordinator snapped, earning himself a glare from Paul and a confused expression from Dawn.

"Tch. Go get your girl or whatever, Hayden." Paul said, and Drew twitched, before walking over to Brendan.

"Hey, May. 'sup, Brendan? How 'bout we have ourselves a double study date...?"

"Tch. Lovesick idiot." Paul rolled his eyes, and Dawn raised an eyebrow.

"Just cause you have the emotional capacity of a teaspoon doesn't mean other people do too, Paul." she said sarcastically, and the lavender haired teenager scoffed.

"I have emotions too, Troublesome. I've just been taught not to show them," he said coldly. "You have no fucking idea what I'm dealing with right now."  
>"I know a hell of a lot more than you think, Paul." she said, smiling at him sweetly.<p>

Paul stared at her incredulously, shock rendering him speechless.

The entire day, Dawn's words kept repeating itself over and over again in his mind.

_I know a hell of a lot more than you think, Paul._

-x-

"Reflect on Professor Oak's theory of type advantages and disadvantages." Dawn read from the sheet, frowning as she placed it on the battered oak desk in his room.

"Why do we need partners for this?" she complained, throwing her Pokemon Studies textbook across the room, hitting the crème walls. Paul scowled.

"Troublesome, can you not do that?" he said gruffly, and Dawn stuck her tongue out at him childishly, prompting an eye roll from the purple haired boy.

"Why not?" she questioned, walking over slowly to pick up her textbook.

"Because you're denting my wall." he deadpanned, and Dawn blushed slightly.

"I didn't _dent _it..." she mumbled, and Paul walked over, pointing to a spot on his wall that had indeed been pushed in.

"Geez, Troublesome, how the hell do you throw so hard?" he grumbled, staring at his wall in slight disbelief. Dawn shrugged, scratching her head sheepishly.

"Eh, you sort of pick it up when you become friends with Misty." she giggled, and Paul rolled his eyes, flipping open a one subject notebook and writing a few words in pencil.

His hand felt strangely numb, and as he dotted the period, he frowned, not sure what he had just written.

_Tick tock, tick tock._

He furrowed his brows- what was that supposed to mean? He didn't recall that particular phrase ever having any significant meaning to him. Not putting another thought to the paper, Paul threw it onto the hardwood floor of his room, crumpling it into a tight ball.

Dawn looked uncharacteristically grave as she leaned forward to uncrumple the paper ball. Her azure eyes scanned his writing, the corners of her pink, glossy lips turning down into a small frown.

"Tick tock, tick tock?" she asked, breaking the silence that seemed to suffocate the mauve haired teenager.

"Hn?" he responded, making the connection between the piece of paper and the phrase. "Tch, no, that's nothing."

Despite his nonchalant words, the blunette pocketed the note, much to Paul's displeasure. Did she really know something that he didn't?

_I know a hell of a lot more than you think, Paul._

Her words rang again inside his head, as loud and clear as if she had been speaking to him face to face.

"Paul?" Dawn's words snapped him out of his momentary trance, and he shook his head.

"We should get started on the project." he said bluntly, flipping open the textbook and propping himself against the wall as his eyes began to scan the text on the white pages.

"Are you always this boring to be around?" the blunette grumbled under her breath, but obediently opens up her textbook.

Paul was always a fast reader. He was done reading the entire chapter in around five minutes, despite the text being so small you practically had to use a magnifying glass to read it without straining your eyes.

After he was satisfied he had properly examined all the objects in his room, which hadn't taken too much time considering it was well, _his _room, Paul found himself looking at the blunette.

The sun hitting her pale milky skin made it glow even more than it already did. Her azure eyes were fixed on the textbook, darting back and forth as she read the sentences. Paul noted with amusement that her lower lip jutted out in concentration as she read.

Paul had to admit that she looked kind of, well, _cute._

He didn't have enough time to look away when Dawn lifted her head. A small smile played on her lips.

_Arceus. Was I just caught staring at her?_

She looked back down, taking out a piece of loose leaf paper from her binder and scribbling something down. Paul furrowed his brows, wondering if he had done something wrong. Dawn didn't say anything about catching him staring, though, causing Paul to breath a small sigh of relief before quickly recomposing himself. The blunette smiled slightly, handing him a piece of paper with a roughly sketched outline of a schedule.

"I'm thinking that if we work on it for forty five minutes each time, we can just meet up three times a week for the rest of the month. If we don't slack off it should be plenty of time when we add in any class time Flint gives us." she explained, her smile never leaving her face.

"Hn. Sounds good." he agreed, his fingers twitching slightly. He felt the same icy numbness again, his fingers dancing on the sheet of paper. Dawn's expression turned unreadable, and Paul frowned as he realized he had been about to rip the paper. His fingers seemed to have a mind of his own, his pounding headache causing him to lean against the wall for support. He felt a hot flash surge through him like an electrical current, the flashes of black in his vision he was experiencing disappearing as quickly as it came on when the mauve-haired teenager felt a sharp tug to his head. He looked up to see Dawn, her round blue eyes wide with concern.

"Ow, what the hell was that?" he grumbled, rubbing the spot where the blunette had jerked his choppy hair. His headache faded quickly, but he could still feel the lingering traces of the killer headache.

"Uh, sorry." she apologized sheepishly, scratching the back of her tresses. "You seemed weird and zoning out, so I kind of... thought to tug your hair."

"You decided... to tug my hair? Of everything, you decide to pull my hair like a bratty five-year-old?" Paul smirked, and Dawn puffed out a cheek in indignance.

"Hey! I am _not _like a bratty five year old!" she shouted, and Paul smirked. She faltered. "Oops..."

"Point proven." he said, raising his eyebrows. Dawn flushed.

"Hmpf. To answer your question, I pulled your hair because that's the most distinctive feature of yours. Not everyone has purple hair. I did the first thing I thought of, and I thought of your hair first." she answered, and Paul chuckled. Dawn cocked her head, smiling slightly at the purple haired boy in front of her.

"What?" he demanded waspishly. Dawn laughed.

"Nothing. I was just thinking that you looked nicer when you smiled. You should smile more." she said cheerfully, pinching his cheeks and making a fishy face. "Then you scowled. You're going to get wrinkles, Paul."

"That's not your problem." the mauve haired boy snapped, pulling himself away from Dawn's grip on his cheeks.

"You've got chubby cheeks." she teased, causing the teenager to furrow his brows in thought.

"I do not." he responded sharply, but there was a small, amused smile on his face.

He hoped Reggie wouldn't walk in at that moment.

His brother would never let him live it down.

-x-

He had remembered getting up at seven AM that morning, eating a quick breakfast of granola and an apple before grabbing his stuff and leaving. He liked to get to school early, mostly because he hated fighting the crowds to get to the door. The library was kind of where he dwelled during school hours. Paul wasn't a geek or a nerd, no sir, but he did like the quiet atmosphere that the library offered. You could probably tell he wasn't a very social guy.

Most of the school avoided the library for fear of being labelled a geek or something, but Paul was well known enough as a trainer for anyone to dare call him anything of the sort. They valued their life too much.

So the fact that Dawn was in the library too surprised him, to say the least. She didn't strike her as the type that'd be caught dead in the school library.

"Oh, hey Paul!" she had chirped in a highly cheerful tone that made his head ache.

"Hn." he acknowledged her with only a small grunt. Dawn furrowed her brows.

"So what are you doing here?" Dawn asked, sitting down in the chair next to him.

"I'm reading up on that stupid project Flint wanted us to do." he said shortly, flipping the page of the book carelessly. "Isn't the better question what are _you _doing here?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" she frowned, the blunette contemplating his words.

"Aren't you the ditzy cheerleader type who wouldn't be caught dead in the library?" he said, raising his eyebrows. He lifted his eyes from the book he was reading to look at Dawn.

"Well, no, I actually like the library, it's pretty quie- HEY! I AM NOT DITZY!" she said, before his words sunk in and she flew into a fit.

"Miss, it's a library in here!" the librarian, a hook nosed lady that looked to be past her nineties, hissed. Dawn sunk into her seat in embarassment.

"Slow reaction. Ditzy cheerleader type." he shrugged, and Dawn scowled.

"For your information, not all cheerleaders are the ditzy bimbos society labels them as." Dawn scolded, and Paul glanced at her.

"Don't care." he grunted, taking some amusement in the scowl that grew deeper on Dawn's face. Arceus, he was such a sadist.

"Hmpf. I'm here because of Flint's ridiculous project too. Whenever I open my door there's a flood of homework on my desk." Dawn grumbled, opening a book.

The two sat in silence for a while, and although Paul didn't do much to acknowledge the blunette haired girl's presence, he had to say that it wasn't an awkward silence. For some reason it was oddly comfortable, like the silence you would have with one of your closest friends.

Not that Paul thought of Dawn as a close friend. An acquaintance, perhaps, maybe even a friend. But definitely not a close friend. Wait, what?

As Paul tried to sort out his thoughts, he was oblivious to the brown haired boy sauntering up to him.

"Enjoying the view?" Gary chuckled, and Paul furrowed his brows as he tried to make sense of his friend's words.

The... view?

He felt a blush creep up onto his cheeks when he realized that he was sitting in front of Dawn, and when the blunette leaned down to jot something down, her low cut shirt gave him a beautiful view of her...

Oh crap.

"You fucking pervert." Paul hissed, forcefully shoving the auburn haired teenager away from him, sending him hurtling towards the edge of the table.

"Pft, don't tell me you've never noticed that before." Gary scoffed. "You're a teenage guy. Teenage guys have hormones. Unless they're asexual."

He eyed Paul warily, prompting a punch from the purple haired teen.

Dawn was looking curiously at the two teenagers by now, wondering what their conversation was about. This did not go unnoticed by Paul, nor Gary, the latter's smirk growing wider at her gaze.

"Keep your trap shut, Oak." he hissed.

"That's mean, Paul." Dawn scolded lightly. Paul ignored Gary's smirk, glaring at the boy before looking back briefly at Dawn.

"Listen to the pretty lady, Paul." Gary laughed, nudging his friend on the arm, completely ignoring the teenager's pointed glares, having grown used to them and his constant death threats that came along with being his friend.

"Tch." he scowled, looking back down at his paper.

"Alright, alright, I see how it is." Gary said, raising his hands up in the air in a surrendering gesture.

"See how what is?" Dawn questioned innocently, and Paul raised his eyebrows as his friend's smirk, if possible, grew even more wide.

"You don't want me to interrupt your little study date, do you?" he chuckled, nudging his friend suggestively. Once again, he ignored Paul's positively murderous expression. "Alright, I won't cockblock anymore. Go suck face or whatever you were doing before."

Both of them blushed.

-x-

"Paul, don't forget what Professor Oak said." Ash called. The mauve haired boy stopped, furrowing his brows as he tried to recall what the professor had said.

"What?" he asked, and the raven haired teen stopped to glance at his friend.

"Geez, Paul, usually you've got a photographic memory." Ash remarked. "Remember what Professor Oak told us about the new Unovan starters?"

"Ketchum, what are you talking about?" Paul grunted, feeling a small migraine coming on. He noticed briefly the seventh Pokeball on his belt, and he frowned, wondering when he had gotten it. A fire pig looked up at him curiously, and he furrowed his brows.

When had he goten a Tepig?

"You seriously forgot, Paul?" Gary asked, holding up a red Pokeball that contained the blue, bear like water starter. "Gramps said it was 'of utmost importance we raise these Pokemon well, or Professor Juniper will have my head'. Or something."

"When was this?" Paul grumbled, noticing Ash release his newly acquired Snivy. Tepig was stamping the Pokeball impatiently, seeing its friends already released and out having fun. Naturally, this enraged the stubborn fire type.

"Just ten minutes ago, dude. You feeling okay?" Gary said, an eyebrow raised.

"Piss off." he snapped, slightly annoyed at himself for forgetting such an important event. And when Paul got pissed off at himself, he usually transferred it to other people.

"Geez, is this because of the library incident?" Gary grumbled, crossing his arms and looking warily at Paul.

"What library incident?" Ash inquired, before being slapped by his Snivy.

"You don't want to know." Paul said icily, before looking back at Tepig's Pokeball. "What did Professor Oak say we had to do?"

"You really don't remember?" the raven haired boy said in disbelief. At Paul's cold glare, he held up his hands in surrender. "Okay! He basically told us to raise it under specific conditions! He made you swear not to treat Tepig too badly, and I think all of us were surprised when you said yes willingly!"

"What specific conditions?" Paul repeated, and Gary frowned.

"Come on, Paul, you really don't know? Come on, it's not funny." the trainer laughed, clapping his friend on the back lightheartedly. At Paul's blank stare, he furrowed his brows, pointing at his now shaking Pokeball. The fire pig inside it was headbutting the red plastic, anger evident in its features. "I think Tepig wants out."

"Whatever." the mauve haired trainer grumbled, releasing the pitifully weak Pokemon. It glowered at him briefly, shooting some stray embers from its nostrils, before sniffing the ground. Paul stared at the Pokemon in front of him. It was probably a puny level five, like all starters were. Fuck this, he didn't have time to raise a whole new Pokemon from a baby when he could be training his current team. Why the fuck did he agree to take on Tepig?

"Hey, Paul, what's this? Some love note from Dawn or something?" Gary asked, picking up a curled note that had dropped from Tepig's Pokeball.

The trainer scowled, snatching the note from his friend's grasp. He knew that by doing that, he'd only serve to support that stupid theory of Gary's, but at this point, he didn't even care. He'd had enough bad experiences with notes, texts, the like, to know that something was up.

Paul almost wasn't surprised when he read what was written, but he couldn't suppress the shiver that went down his spine.

_Tick tock, tick tock!_

_I'm waiting, Paul!_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I really need to lay off Pretty Little Liars.

Agreed?

Oh well... without it this story wouldn't be half as good! -shot-

Anyway, once again, please review! I'm hoping for at least 16 (: It'd make my first day back to hell/school even brighter!

And yeah I haven't started school yet. xD

Wait, what? I need to stop eating M&Ms at midnight. Ahem.

So, if any characters are OOC or if you notice any grammatical, syntax, or spelling mistakes, or generally just want to give critique on the story, please do so! As long as they aren't flames and are constructive, I'm fine with it!

-holds out noms-

Please review? O:)


	5. Puppet

**Disclaimer- **I own nothing. If I did, I wouldn't be thirteen and broke.

* * *

><p>Vulnerable<p>

AU Fanfiction

-x-

puppet;

noun

2. a person, group, government, etc., who's actions are prompted and controlled by another or others.

-x-

Valentine Sernix.

Valentine Sernix.

The name echoed in Dawn's ears.

Except for the brief mention from her written passage, Dawn had found absolutely no information on the ever mysterious author.

But it sounded familiar. Dawn didn't know how on Earth she would ever had encountered a Valentine Sernix, but it sounded so _familiar. _She tried and tried to pin her finger on it, but she failed miserably.

Frustrated, she slammed the book shut, wondering, irritated, if Valentine Sernix could be just a stupid pen name.

Wait. What?

Cursing herself inwardly for not having thought of it sooner, she flipped back to the excerpt, skimming over the brief passage on her.

One sentence hit her particularly hard.

_Valentine Sernix is the pen name of Veilstone resident Verity Shinji, a freelance writer who enjoys turning her hometown's rich and fascinating lore into fiction that persuades younger readers to discover more about Veilstone and its past._

Valentine Sernix. Verity Shinji.

No wonder.

_Shinji... Shinji..._

_ I wonder if she could be related to Paul in some way?_

She laughed derisively over the thought.

_Hah! Probably not..._

_-_x-

"You've got a really pretty house, Paul. Why don't I ever see you have friends over?" Dawn questioned brightly, looking at the photo frames sitting on top of the marble mantle.

"I do. You just don't ever see it." he shrugged, looking away awkwardly.

Dawn sighed, wondering if she was ever going to have to explain to Paul about his current situation. She hoped she wouldn't have to, but with the way things were going, she figured that eventually she would have to.

She took a deep breath.

"Pau-"

The door opened with a flourish, Paul's older brother Reggie bursting in, arms full of bagged groceries. He smiled warmly, looking between the two.

"Oh! Dawn, hello! Working on that project, huh?" Reggie inquired kindly, to which Dawn nodded. Reggie set the groceries on the granite island in the kitchen, running water over his hands before walking to the hallway. He looked back briefly. "Well, I'll leave you two to it. Dawn, would you like to stay for dinner, today? I'll be cooking lasagna! Shinji family recipe!"

"Oh, no, I'm fine. Thank you for offering, though!" Dawn declined politely, smiling warmly. Reggie nodded, before trudging off to his room.

"Shinji family recipe?" Dawn chuckled, turning towards Paul.

"I swear, Reggie's the housewife in this family..."

-x-

Leaf liked to think she was a strong person.

But deep down, she knew that she had her insecurities and worries like any other normal person. It just took a lot for her to admit it.

When Leaf showed up at Gary's front door, eyes bloodshot and a duffel bag in hand, the auburn haired teenager was surprised, to say the least.

"Gary, can I crash at your place for a bit?" she questioned, a silent plea in her voice. Desperation was laced in her words.

"W-sure...?" Gary stammered, running a hand through his hair. "But... why?"

"... long story. Maybe I'll tell you later." Leaf mumbled, kicking off her yellow Converse sneakers and picking at a tangle with her fingers.

Her voice shook near the end. Leaf pursed her lips, desperately trying to force back the tears that threatened to fall any second. She hated crying, and to have Gary see her cry would be a blow to her ego. But for some reason, she didn't care anymore. She just wanted some tiny sense of security.

Gary's mouth formed an 'o', and he racked his mind for possible words as he saw Leaf's bottom lip tremble, a sign that she was about to cry. He was just never that good at dealing with crying girls.

He stepped forwards, encasing Leaf in a warm embrace. Leaf choked back a sob, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder as the tears finally trickled out, staining his shirt.

For a long time, they stayed like that.

-x-

_Verity Shinji._

Dawn looked through the archives of the Veilstone Library, looking through the databases.

She had tried looking for more information on the Veilstone Demon, but information was sparse and inaccurate. One source said one thing, while another said something completely different. The frustration of it all made her want to tear her hair out and scream colourful words at the computer monitor.

A copy of the _Veilstone Enquirer_ popped up after a keyword search of "Verity Shinji". It was an article from an old issue of the _Enquirer,_ reporting a death at the Veilstone General Hospital with mysterious circumstances. The victim?

Verity Shinji.

The article stated Mrs Shinji's profession, (housewife and freelance writer, something Dawn had previously known) her marital status (married and divorced to Daemon Shinji, single mother of two children, Reggie Parker Shinji and Paul Alexander Shinji.

_'So Verity Shinji really was Paul's mother...'_

Wait, hold up. Paul Alexander?

'_Paul's middle name was Alexander?'_

Whoa. Blackmail worthy material, much?

Dawn had to stifle a laugh at the name, but she quickly composed herself, skimming the rest of the article.

Verity Shinji was admitted to the hospital after experiencing internal pain, and after entering a comatose state from wrongly prescribed medication, she was moved to the Ralph Fisher Ward, an intensive care unit named after Veilstone's medical prodigy and designed for care of comatose patients. The article then went on to say that somehow, despite high security and the apparent improvement in her state, she was found dead one morning. Her life support had been pulled, and because there was no authorization, the person who had pulled it went on to waterlog the system.

Dawn had a brief flashback of the day Paul had collapsed.

Hadn't he, just moments before, admitted to her that he had a dream about that very incident? Hadn't he been the one to say that he was positive that his father was the one who killed Verity Shinji?

Dawn rubbed her temple in irritation, wondering how the hell detectives could handle this kind of work daily.

Damn Paul. Just _had _to go and get himself possessed.

-x-

Gary walked over to Leaf, handing her a mug of hot chocolate he had whipped up over the stove in five minutes. Leaf thanked him quietly, wrapping her fingers around the green ceramic and taking a sip of it.

"Can I trust you with a stove? You trying to poison me or something?" Leaf joked half heartedly with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Geez, have a little trust in me." Gary smirked, draping an arm across her shoulders lazily, before looking at her in all seriousness. "So, what happened?"

Leaf's face fell as she feigned extreme interest in the hot chocolate in her mug.

"Leaf." Gary's voice was stern, and Leaf found herself being turned towards him, his gaze piercing hers.

His intense emerald eyes almost made her blush.

But Leaf Green did _not _blush.

She twiddled with her thumbs awkwardly as she struggled to answer.

"Um...myparentsarefightingandthey''mreallyscaredthatthey'-"

Gary put a finger to her lips, and Leaf had to struggle to fight off the blush. He smirked, tilting his head.

"Leaf, it'd be great if I could actually understand."

Leaf took a deep breath.

"My parents are fighting. A lot. It's gotten violent lately and when I tried to break up one of their fights after Dad hit Mom... they kicked me out of the house. I'm just scared that they're gonna end up hurting each other or at the very least file for divorce. I just... what everything the way they used to be. Happy. Carefree. Not... not like this." her last words became whispered, and Gary bit his lip, giving Leaf a small squeeze with the arm around her.

"Hey, you know what, you'll be alright. Don't worry, just give it some time. With luck, it'll just boil over. And you can stay here for a while, Gramps wouldn't mind." Gary reassured the brunette, smiling one of those rare smiles of his that could melt Leaf's heart.

"Thanks, Gary." Leaf smiled shyly, hugging him. "And I already have my bags here, of course I'm staying here, for Arceus' sake."

-x-

Dawn was exhausted. She hadn't been able to sleep all night. The blunette had stayed up well past midnight studying for a bio test she'd forgotten about until that very night, which was, of course, the day before the test.

Before that, she'd been writing the draft for her part of the project between her and Paul. With only a fifteen minute break, she'd only managed to down a particularly sour apple before going back to work and eventually going to bed, still clad in her day's attire.

After Dawn had dozed off, her comforter wrapped around her pale arms, dreams began to attack her.

No, not dreams.

Nightmares.

Nightmares of a wicked puppet, with gaping eye sockets and long, bony fingers. Nightmares of a limp, pale, _dead _Paul Shinji, a slash to his heart that had ended his life. Nightmares of one Verity Shinji, and her untimely death.

The wail of the life support system was what had jolted her awake.

Dawn mentally cursed herself for her choice of footwear. After barely 5 hours of sleep, she'd rolled out of bed and ate only a granola bar before heading off to class. Her stomach growling in protest and her feet aching from her suede desert booties, she rudely pushed through a throng of students before finally catching Leaf's eye.

To her utter surprise, Gary was right beside her.

Their hands touched.

Like, touch touch.

Leaf and Gary, despite having kissed outside the Valentine's dance, (quite passionately, Dawn would add) had never had the most stable of relationships.

It ended when Leaf broke it off just two weeks after the dance.

She'd accused Gary of being a playboy, and quite angrily stated that she was likely nothing more than "this week's toy".

The two hadn't been on the best of terms after.

Dawn was torn between wry amusement or utter disbelief, but chose to settle for gaping quite obviously and blinking in confusion.

Leaf looked her way, and a blush made its way onto her face. She quickly dropped Gary's hand.

The auburn haired teenager raised an eyebrow at the now flustered brunette, but didn't say anything.

"Leaf? What's going on?" Dawn questioned in an accusing tone. Leaf flushed an even more vivid shade of fuschia, a shade Dawn hadn't known was humanly possible.

"U-um..." Leaf stammered.

Gary smirked, lazily draping an arm around Leaf's shoulder.

"It's a long story."

-x-

June 15th.

That was the day his mother had passed away.

June 15th.

Paul had decided to do something that went far beyond his comfort level.

He had resorted to asking _Reggie _for help.

_Reggie._

Paul wondered briefly if Oak had somehow slipped drugs into his lunch, but decided that as he wasn't seeing flying green Ponytas yet, that he wasn't high.

Yet.

"Reggie, what was mom like?"

The older purple-haired male looked up from the newspaper he had been reading, confusion evident in his coal black eyes.

"M-mom?" Reggie blinked, furrowing his brows. "Why are you asking about her?"

"Wanted to know more about her." he shrugged casually, but he inwardly hoped that Reggie would stop pestering him for a reason and just give him a straight out answer.

Reggie put down the newspaper and adopted a contemplative expression, before sighing and looking away at the window.

"She was... an absolute amazing person. I was only a kid then, so I might be biased, but from what I can remember... Arceus, she was a wonderful person. She always had a kind, genuine smile on her face that could make anyone feel better, and she always knew just what to say. Mom always used to joke around too, and she always used to pretend to forget my name and call me Dennis just to see me get mad. When you were born, she almost named you Dennis, too." A small, wistful smile crossed his face.

Paul pulled a subtle face.

Dennis?

Dennis.

Thank Arceus he'd been named Paul instead.

"How... why did she get admitted into the hospital again?" Paul questioned, his memory of the incident fuzzy.

"Internal pain. She complained it was nothing though, until she started coughing up blood. Honestly, at that point, it might've already been too late."

Paul nodded brusquely, and Reggie took a deep breath.

"Sh-"

The younger Shinji suddenly felt an iciness creep into him, slithering in like a serpent, chilling his insides to the bone.

He knew this feeling.

Before he could let Reggie finish, he scrambled to his room.

Click. Slam.

The doors were locked.

The windows were locked.

He sat on his bed, his face in his hands.

Paul wondered how long he'd have to wait. Until he was safe to be around. Until he was somewhat _normal _again.

Maybe it was just a waiting game.

Before he could finish his thoughts, everything went black.

-x-

"Paul, you missed first period. What's up?" Drew interrogated as he approached the teenager in the hallway, flipping his green bangs out of his eyes obnoxiously.

"Nothing, Hayden. Just... tired." he lied, but the look on Drew's face made it clear that the green-haired coordinator didn't believe a word of what he had said.

"Paul, you live on 4 hours of sleep. I don't think I've seen you _tired _before." Drew shot back skeptically. Paul rolled his eyes, although he couldn't deny Drew's logic.

"Hn. Change of mind." Paul shrugged, looking over his shoulder, momentarily catching Dawn's eye as she passed the two in the hallway, May beside her.

Dawn smiled briefly at him as May waved cutely to Drew.

Drew smirked slightly, before nudging Paul on the shoulder.

"Heh, someone's getting Dawn's attention." Drew chuckled slyly, his green eyes twinkling with amusement. The mauve-haired teenager only shrugged, looking away.

"Shut up." he muttered, shoving a few textbooks into his locker.

"See! You're not denying it!" Drew singsonged.

"Hayden, how does May even put up with you?"

-x-

Dawn had made up her mind.

She was going to tell Paul about his "condition".

It probably wasn't a wise idea.

Heck, it definitely wasn't a smart idea. But she felt that he'd feel better at least _knowing _what was wrong with him.

The blunette couldn't pin down her feelings for him.

Sure, he was downright rude, aloof, cold, and a stereotypical "bad boy" that all girls lusted for. He'd be the opposite of someone Dawn would even remotely like.

But he wasn't all bad. Dawn knew that. He'd shown flashes of kindness, and compassion. It was almost... natural. Maybe that was just who he actually was. Maybe the whole aloofness was just a disguise.

A small blush crept up on Dawn's cheeks as she thought of the mauve-haired teenager.

Sure, Dawn would be the first person to admit that he wasn't... too bad looking.

He was actually pretty... hot.

Playing with a lock of midnight blue hair as she debated inwardly on her feelings towards Paul, she didn't notice the car that was rushing towards her as she absently crossed the crosswalk.

She didn't notice that the car had no driver- only a dark shadow where the driver might have been.

She didn't notice.

Not until she felt the impact of a ton of steel against her body, as she was thrown into the concrete.

Not until she felt all the feeling drain from her body.

Not until everything went black.

-x-

_Sweetie, when you play with fire, you'll only get hurt..._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **

Oh my. I wonder how many people are still following me.

I'm so. So. Sorry.

I haven't updated _any _of my fics in forever. I've just barely been getting enough sleep to function, and grade eight's just draining the life of me. I've also been watching a lot of Canucks hockey lately- _wait, _no, that isn't an excuse, imean...- and yeah, I just haven't been able to find a muse to finish my stories for the life of me.

So once again, NaruMayoi is extremely sorry and will try not to let hockey take over her life so she can still have readers for her fics. She'll try. Not saying I'll succeed. Anywaaaaays...

A short chapter. I know, bring out the pitchforks and torches. But any longer and I felt it might've been dragged out, I'm not sure. I'm pretty happy with how this chapter turned out. Mental musing and a car crash. Fun~!

Questions!

1; Who was driving that car?

2; When will Paul find out what's going on with him?

3; How will our lovely heroine rid her knight in possessed armour of his evils?

Answer with your predictions in your lovely reviews! Thank you, NaruMayoi loves you, hehe 3

For anyone that follows Five Ways, I'll be updating that in two weeks. ANY LONGER AND I'LL SLAP MYSELF. PROMISE.

-NaruMayoi


	6. Victim

**disclaimer; **I don`t own Pokemon ~

* * *

><p>Vulnerable<p>

AU Fanfiction

-x-

_victim;_

_**noun**_

_a person who suffers from a destructive or injurious action or agency:_

-x-

"Hey, Dawn, are you okay?" Misty demanded, sitting down on the hospital bed next to her friend.

"We were so worried about you! Leaf even called off the mall trip to visit you in the hospital, and she never does that!" May added, in an attempt to lighten up the room.

"That's dedication, girl." Leaf agreed, patting her blue-haired friend lightly on the shoulder.

"I feel loved." Dawn grinned, shifting in the hospital bed and propping herself up, leaning against the fluffed up pillows.

"Who hit you? Man, I will _kill _whoever tried to hurt you." the carrot top growled angrily, clenching her fist.

"I told you, I really don't know." the blunette rubbed her head, groaning slightly as another wave of nausea hit her. Her arm was throbbing, and she couldn't feel her left leg at all. The doctors had told her she'd broken her leg, so it was wrapped tightly in a cast. It was now adorned with signatures from all twenty seven of the people who'd come to visit her. "I didn't see the driver."

"Whoever was driving's damn lucky you didn't see them, because they'd be having a meeting with me if you did." Misty seethed, and May laughed nervously.

"Misty, remember what the cops told you? That's _their _job." May coaxed, trying to get her friend out of her raging state.

"So? When have the cops ever done anything right?" Misty scoffed, looking away stubbornly.

"Um, Mist, I think this room's taped. Security cameras, and all." Dawn spoke up timidly. Misty shrugged, smiling sweetly at the security camera in the corner of the wall.

"So? Cops can't touch me." Misty grinned, shimmying awkwardly.

Dawn cracked up, laughing. Her ribs ached as her laughter shook her entire frame, which seemed to be frailer now that she was lying on a hospital bed. Leaf and May laughed with her, almost nervously at first, fearing her friend would hurt herself, but eventually started giggling too at the ridiculous dance moves Misty thought up of.

"Damn, Misty. That's a sexy dance." Leaf forced out through peals of laughter.

"I know." Misty blew at her fingernails almost smugly, an amused twinkle in her cerulean eyes. "I call it _'The Waterflower Shuffle'_."

-x-

"I can't believe Dawn got hit by a car." Ash exclaimed as he shoved another handful of kettle cooked chips into his mouth.

Drew looked up, putting aside the magazine he'd been reading.

"Me neither. Who'd want to hurt her? She's _Dawn. _Even Darkrai would love her." Gary agreed quietly, for once not making a sarcastic quip about Ash's stupidity. He glared at Ash briefly. "Yo, Ketchum, those are my chips you're inhaling. Share the damn bag, please."

"Sorry." Ash mumbled, handing over the crinkly bag of chips to Gary. "I'm still in a state of shock."

"Whoa. Ash, actually sharing food? Damn, Dawn must mean a lot to you." Drew raised an eyebrow as he sat back on the Oak's cushy reclining sofa. He flicked a chartreuse bang out of his eyes. "But in all seriousness, I still can't believe it."

"What does she mean to you, anyway?" Paul's voice was hoarse, anxiety tinging his usually scathing words.

"She's one of our best friends, you retard." Gary answered quickly. "What's wrong with you?"

"W-what..?" Paul questioned, his arms crossed.

"You look like crap, dude. You've got bags under your eyes and you look like you haven't had sleep for days." Drew added. "What's up?"

"I'm fine, Hayden. Your eyes are going." the mauve-haired teenager looked away, absently rubbing at his eyes.

"Hey, I didn't see you at school on Tuesday." Ash spoke up. Drew looked at him sharply.

_What was that idiot playing at? Does he think _Paul _hit Dawn? _Drew thought aggressively.

Paul had a hollow look in his eyes.

"I wasn't feeling well. Decided to skip third and fourth period." he said.

Ash nodded almost suspiciously. It was then that Drew decided to thump his friend over his head. Paul was _not _someone you accused of hurting Dawn.

Drew had a gut feeling. Dawn wasn't just someone else to Paul. She extended a hand of friendship early on. He'd notice a change in his friend- he smirked more, and there was a lighter tone in his voice when he was around her. Maybe he was spending too much time around Ash, but Drew thought that perhaps, just _maybe, _Paul had a small liking towards Dawn.

"Where'd you go?" Ash didn't relent with the interrogation.

"I was at home, dumbass. Now stop with the fucking 20 Questions. I've got a headache, and your disgustingly high prepubescent voice really isn't helping at all." Paul snapped aggressively, throwing a cushion in Ash's direction. He lowered his head, taking a deep breath.

"Headache? Don't tell me you got wasted." Gary smirked, tossing a bottle of Tylenol in Paul's direction.

"Fuck off, Oak. I didn't get wasted." Paul growled.

Drew sighed.

"Hey, guys, just leave him. Wasted or not, he's still got a headache. I doubt any of you guys want your head sliced off. And trust me, our friend Paul gets violent when he's pissed." Drew interrupted. There was an ominous atmosphere, and Paul's face seemed to darken. His eyes disappeared under his fringe, and he stood up suddenly, slamming the door behind him as he left the home.

Paul's cell phone lay forgotten on the couch.

Drew heard Paul's text tone ring once, and then twice.

He was almost afraid to touch it- Paul never wanted anyone near his phone. It was private, he had snapped.

But Gary strode up towards the phone, picking it up in his hands.

"Hm, wonder what Pauly's got in his texts. Secret love texts to Dawn?" he smirked, flicking his bangs.

The douche. Drew clenched a fist. The hair flip was _his _thing!

He unlocked the smartphone, Gary's thumb tapping the 'Messages' icon.

The lights flickered, and there was the sound of glass breaking.

Footsteps.

One. Two.

Then silence.

-x-

"What happened to _you?" _Reggie exclaimed in shock. He took in the sight of his brother's bleeding hand, a fragment of glass poking out from the exposed flesh. There was a stale, metallic smell of blood in the air.

"I.. I don't know." Paul responded in genuine disbelief, unsure of how he'd sustained the injury himself. He was at a loss for words- how could he have forgotten something that important? He usually had a very good memory, why was he suddenly drawing a blank at events that should have happened just hours ago?

"Damn, there goes the elation from that date with Maylene." Reggie sighed, putting the bags on his arm down and kneeling down on a knee to check his brother's hand. He blanched as the blood dripped down his brother's tanned arm, small shards of glass poking out painfully. "How'd you get _glass _in your hand?"

"I don't you, I don't know." the younger Shinji responded impatiently.

"How do you not know how you got shards of glass in your hand?" Reggie asked skeptically, an eyebrow raised.

"I-I.. I really don't know..." Paul concentrated on trying to remember the events of the afternoon, but once again drew a complete blank. Reggie furrowed his brows in worry.

"Well, alright then." Reggie shrugged absently, taking a roll of gauze into his hand. "You should get this checked at the Veilstone Hospital, Paul."

Something flashed in Paul's eyes.

"No, it's okay, Reggie. I'll be fine. Just need a bandage, I guess." Paul said in a calm voice, although there was an undertone of fear in his voice.

"You'll get it infected, Paul. And you've got a game next Monday against Pastoria. Just get it checked out." the elder Shinji said in exasperation.

"I fucking told you, Reggie, I'll be fine." Paul snapped, anger evident in his coal black eyes. His brother was openly surprised by his outburst, the gauze slipping away from his grasp, rolling onto the linoleum flooring. Almost as quickly as it had come, the fire in his eyes left, leaving behind only the hollow gaze of a man who had hidden far too many secrets for far too long. "Besides, Pastoria's a pushover. When _Ash _can singlehandedly stickhandle past their top two defenseman, you know something's wrong."

Reggie cracked a small smile, shooting a tentative look in his brother's direction.

He'd never seen Paul lose his cool like that, ever. He was usually such a cool and collected person- to see an outburst of that intensity was rare.

When Paul turned to look at his brother, Reggie swore he felt a chill go down his spine.

-x-

"Do you want Pastoria to win? Come on, Haydar's my cousin, he'll never let me live it down." Volkner growled, taking out a whiteboard and reviewing our plays. He reviewed a play we'd learned for faceoffs- one play for if we won and another if we lost. He also started to scribble a play for gaining the blue line on the powerplay, but was cut off as the trainer started to yell that they had to enter the ice in a few seconds. "Damn it, alright."

Volkner set his gaze on his team, eying them.

"Pastoria's a damn good team. Just because they've got a 1-6-3 record doesn't mean they'll give up easily. I've seen you dolts go on cruise control as soon as you hit the 3 goal difference. Then the forwards and defenseman start to get lazy. And when you get lazy, you make stupid plays. When you make stupid plays, the other team scores. If I see anyone not skating their fullest, I will bench you and bag skate you on Tuesday. Gain the blue line, they're a damn good defensive team and will lull you to sleep. Now, damn it, get out on the ice and show the school what you're all about." Volkner explained, before raising his voice. "Now kick some Pastoria ass!"

Gary was centering the first line, with Kyle Fields and Ash on the wing. The auburn-haired teenager grinned at Paul, who was on the first defense pairing, along with a decently agreeable senior named Dan Winchester who was, admittedly, pretty good on the skates. Off the ice, he was a blundering idiot.

"Clean, hard, fast hockey, got it?" the ref questioned.

"Yeah, ref, got it." Gary answered lazily. Pastoria's captain, a burly, six foot four guy, nodded.

They lined up to take the faceoff.

And it was off.

The Veilstone Sharpedo led 2-0 after the first period. Ash had scored on a deke to the backhand after the Lapras defenseman had stepped on the puck and turned it over to Ash. A defenseman, Rick Elliot, had blasted a shot from the point and beat the Lapras goaltender cleanly.

The Veilstone goalie, Quincy Harrows, was holding the fort, and the defenseman were alert and made smart plays.

They headed into the locker room feeling pretty damn good about their chances.

5 minutes before the end of the second period, the Lapras had caught up and led 3-2.

The three goals were all either the result of failure to clear the zone or a defensive error.

Needless to say, Volkner was pretty pissed.

"Those were fucking retarded turnovers, and you know what? The Lapras are beating us. The _Lapras. _You came here walking like you owned the place, and after that two goal lead, you started going on cruise control. Well guess what? The Lapras may not be the most skilled, but damn it, they have heart. And they cashed in on your crappy, unprofessional mistakes. You wanna go to the big leagues? Well start acting like a fucking hockey player, and not a vacuum cleaner! Now get out there and win, or I'll bag skate you until your ass drops to the ice!" Volkner snarled, glaring at Paul, who was responsible for one of the turnovers that had led to a goal.

"Sorry, Volt." Paul grumbled, rolling eyes in exasperation.

"Don't give me that fuck it all attitude, Shinji. I've had enough of your retarded defensive errors. Get your act together and play hockey, which is what you're, you know, supposed to do."

"Arceus, I'm not even getting paid to do this..." the mauve-haired teenager scoffed, looking away.

"I heard that!"

"YOU WERE FUCKING SUPPOSED TO!"

"It's the last seven minutes of the period, damn it!" Volkner snapped, the hot tempered blond coach glaring at his team. The twenty year old gym leader grimaced as the ref signaled 'thirty seconds left'.

The Lapras and Orcas traded goals in the third period. The captain, Gary Oak, had scored on a tip-in, but the Lapras captain, Mike Green, had responded with a tip-in of his own. With seven minutes and fourteen seconds left to play, The Orcas needed one more goal to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Since the Green goal, the stands became increasingly empty. The only people left were Lapras supporters, donning teal and white jerseys and smug grins on their faces.

"Time out over. Back onto the ice, kids." the linesman said, skating over.

Gary tapped his Bauer hockey stick onto the ice.

"Don't worry, coach. Clutch Shinji will save the day." the auburn-haired captain grinned, thumping his mauve-haired friend on the back.

"I'm not clutch, Oak, and you know it." Paul rolled his eyes.

He'd earned his "Clutch Shinji" nickname after he'd scored the overtime goal that sent them into the City Hockey Championship Finals. After that season, Paul'd had a rough season in his senior year.

Paul cursed. He'd wanted to play professional after high school, and this summer was the Interregional Hockey League draft. It seemed that no matter how much he practiced, he still couldn't produce. It frustrated him.

"Whatever. We need a clutch player right now, and I don't give a crap if it's Elliot or hell, even our goalie, damn it, someone just score." Volkner growled, before dismissing us.

"You're a crappy captain, you douche." Paul smirked as he skated out to the faceoff dot in the defensive zone.

Gary laughed as he took the face-off.

He called over his shoulder.

"Douche or no douche, I'm still your captain, you asshole!"

There were forty six seconds left to play, and Paul didn't even dare look over to the Lapras bench. Volkner was _terrifying _whenever he felt the team didn't give its all. He broke a wall, damn it!

He could hear the doors opening, and he heard the clicking of heels on linoleum.

Paul spared a glance up to the stands, where he saw _her._

She was fixing her midnight blue locks, tucking a stray strand behind her ear. She seemed to sense his gaze fixed on hers, and offered a shy, encouraging smile, flashing a thumbs-up. Misty jostled her friend, grinning mischievously as she saw who Dawn was staring at. May joined in the teasing, as did Leaf, and a small blush spread across Dawn's face.

The referee whistled, and Ash skated out, taking the face-off, winning it cleanly.

The puck landed on Paul's tape, and he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness hit him. He couldn't see straight- the walls were spinning, the familiar Sinnoh Intersecondary Hockey Cup poster taunting him.

Paul felt like throwing up. He felt nauseous to the bone, and the air left his lungs like someone had wrapped a hand around his neck. He swallowed, but it refused. His eyes stung, like the feeling of windy saltwater hitting his eyes.

He heard a whirlwind of voices. He could hear Volkner's angry, frantic bellows at him to shoot or pass the damn puck. He could hear the Lapras bench hold their breath. But most of all, ringing in his ears, he heard her whisper. A faint, tiny, soft whisper.

_Go!  
><em>

And he let the slapper go.

There was a high-pitched ping, and the blaring of an air horn.

Gary skated over, patting the defenseman's helmet affectionately.

"Four seconds left, man. And the Lapras thought they could win. Fucking troll, Paul. You're a troll. And you said you're not clutch." Gary smirked, his green eyes bright. "Hey, look, your little girlfriend's celebrating."

Dawn was indeed celebrating, as was her gang of friends. She'd jumped to her feet, cheering loudly. The three girls by her side exchanged knowing glances, before joining in the clapping.

Paul felt a small smirk upturn his lips. He didn't even bother to correct Gary.

-x-

Jonathon Little had scored the overtime winning goal that helped the Orcas inch past the Lapras and take over first place in the Intersecondary Hockey League standings.

"Hey, congratulations, Mister Clutch," Drew grinned, smacking his friend on the shoulder.

They were celebrating the win over smoothies at the Veilstone Grill, exchanging banter and jokes.

It was a great day. They'd come home and found from their IHL friend, Riley, that professional scouts for the IHL had been in attendance to all their hockey games, and that they'd been eligible for the entry draft this year after graduation.

"I'd like to think the LaRousse Banshees'll draft me. First round, of course." Drew joked, grinning as he took a drink from his smoothie, which had been spiked with champagne.

"The Banshees are going to miss the playoffs every year, bud. Honourable, though. Play for the hometown team and never make the playoffs." Gary pointed out, smirking at Drew's heated reaction.

"Excuse me, the Banshe-"

"Break it up, you losers." Paul interjected, cutting in before things got ugly.

"Well, I hope the Cerulean Stars draft me." Ash mumbled.

"'cause Misty's there?" Gary grinned, nudging his friend suggestively.

"W-what? N-no! Of course n-not!" he stammered, flushing, which did nothing to help his cause.

"I'd like the Pallet Town Mightyenas. Hometown team, and they aren't bad either." Gary shrugged. "You, Paul?"

"Veilstone B-"

There was a blaring of police cars, and several police cars pulled into the driveway of the Veilstone Grill.

Arcanine barked, pulling on their leashes as they lunged ferociously to any who dared to walk past.

Officer Jenny strode into the grill, her eyes piercing as she scanned the grill. Her gaze lingered on Paul, a small, satisfied smirk curling her lips.

"Paul Shinji, we'd like a word with you. Down at the precinct, if you wouldn't mind. Your brother's already there and gives permission for an interrogation." Officer Jenny said tonelessly.

The four friends exchanged confused glances, before Paul stood up coldly.

"Whatever this is about, this is an utter waste of time." he snapped, before bursting out the door of the Grill, leaving his three friends bewildered.

Paul's shadow distorted slightly, turning into the shadowy figure of a man much taller than him, with crooked fingers and a flowing trench coat. As the sun hit it, it turned back into Paul's normal shadow.

A small, crumpled piece of paper was the only trace of the mysterious distortion.

_~x~_

_Mirror mirror on the wall,_

_Who's the wickedest of them all?_

_Why, me of course... they call me_

_E .A.T._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **

I have a confession to make.

I'm falling out of Ikarishipping. I'll try my hardest to try to muster up some inspiration, but I just feel so _dead _right now. I'll try to read more fics, but life's just been crazy.

I honestly thought about deleting this fic. But I didn't feel that it was a good reason to, and it'd probably offend and confuse the readers for this. So I've decided to keep this going, but I'm ditching the prompts. Updates will be sparse, so it`s your choice if you want to continue reading it our not.

I'm sorry if this seems all so sudden and rude, but writing was supposed to be _fun. _A way of expressing myself. Now it feels like an obligation, and I don't like it. I won't delete _any _of my stories, but updates won`t be quick at all. I have a life to deal with as well, and my grades are going to be even more important.

That having been said, my province`s teachers are on strike, so I`ll have a bunch of days where the teachers are having a walkout, and spring break`s soon, so the whole thing might not even come into effect until after spring break.

Thanks for being understanding and amazing and sticking with me through sparse updates and listless chapters! I love you all 3

~ NaruMayoi

**and yes, I am adding a hockey aspect to this. It's the only way I can find the inspiration for this fic. :/**


	7. Author's Note

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

****Hey everyone. With a heavy heart I'm announcing that Vulnerable's going to be discontinued.

A lot of reasons play into this decision.

I haven't been receiving many reviews for this fic, maybe 2 or 3 a chapter, and it's always discouraging because I don't know if you like my writing or not, and it's always frustrating because I always like to receive feedback so I know what to improve.

Second, I've been falling out of Ikarishipping and rapidly losing my muse for the stories I have left. I'm going to be continuing All's Fair because I have an idea of where that fic is going and I receive more feedback on it. I'm going to be discontinuing this fic because it's not fair to make you wait for chapters that are poorly written and wait for updates that come every 2-3 months. It's not fair to me, as an author, to be denied feedback even though I know that there are people reading my fics. I've been losing inspiration for this for a long time because I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going with this, and had poor judgement in posting this.

So yeah. This fic'll be discontinued, but I won't delete it because I am rather fond of it and don't have the heart to, and in case you want to reread it you can.

I think my writing's improved since this and with this fic I'm only limiting myself.

Sorry for this,

xxNaruMayoixx


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